Inhomogeneous phase-visibility modulating interferometry by space on-off non-quadrature amplitude modulation.

A new method in interferometry based on on-off non-quadrature amplitude modulation for object phase retrieval is presented. Although the technique introduces inhomogeneous visibility and phase variations in the interferogram, it is shown that the phase retrieval of a given object is still possible. This method is implemented by using three beams and two Mach-Zehnder interferometers in series. One of the arms of the system is used as a probe beam and the other two are used as reference beams, yielding from their sum the conventional reference beam of a two-beam interferometer. We demonstrate that, if there is a phase difference within the range of (0,π) between these two beams, the effect of modulation in both amplitude and phase is generated for the case of on-off non-quadrature amplitude modulation. An analytical discussion is provided to sustain this method. Numerical and experimental results are also shown.